Kaye

[BeckyPets]

We were told that if the mother hen couldn't get the chicks down to feed - if there was a ramp they couldn't get down, or a drop, for example - she would smother them in frustration. Although we removed the roosting bars, last year the chicks couldn't get out of the nest box because the sides were too high and the mother got very frustrated. We had to lift them all out by hand and put the food and water containers on the eglu floor, and then lift them back in when they had had something to eat and drink.

Should we have the eggs in the nesting box this year, where the chicken is broody, or have a cardboard box on the eglu floor instead? Is there an easy way of making a ramp - the eglu is a strange shape and the ramps we tried to make from the nesting box always slid down- ?

[The Dogmother]

I'd put a plant pot or similar in the nest box to block it off, remove the roosting bars and pop a cardboard box in to the poo tray to make it cosy. I've hatched in an eglu countless times and just add a small piece of wood outside the door as a step down for when they are first tiny. Be sure to add a non-slip flooring in the eglu for the first two weeks until their legs are strong enough, I use this

 

Never heard of a broody mother smothering her chicks in that fashion.

[BeckyPets]

How high do the sides need to be on the box? Do I need to put something down to stop the eggs rolling around? Do I need to cut a section from the front so they can get out without having to climb over the sides?

 

Sorry for the questions!

[The Dogmother]

I tend to use the tray-like top off a photocopier paper box, cut the side off one end and fill it with Aubiose.

 

Please read up on the hatching advice in the FAQ section and at the top of the hatching section.

[kittyl]

Thankyou Clare, I've been worrying about the newpaper on floor under my broody, I thought it would stay covered but it's not, so I've just bought some of that non slip matting you recommended, no more worrying.

[The Dogmother]

Good call, I wouldn't advise newspaper as it attracts damp, and therefore bacteria. The matting is also easy to wash and disinfect, bearing in mind that the chicks will be in there fro at least 10 weeks.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

If I have a buxom mummy, like an Orpie,in the eglu for hatching I make her a nest in the poo tray & turn the nestbox into a buffet table ....if a diddy Pekin mama is in residence she has the nestbox to hatch in & I build up the poo tray with a couple of bricks & slates & cover with aubiose, I make sure the depth of bedding in the nestbox & poo tray leave very little distance for the babies to clamber/jump over & put a tile/slate/piece of wood outside the eglu door for the tiddlers to use as a step.

 

Works for me........or them I should say

 

Sha x

[Jules.]

Thank you for this question- last night we put Turk the bantam Orpington into the eglu nest box with 5 eggs- 2 blue laced Wyandotte, a black-red & a blue Araucana & a Maltese black.

She's sat on hemcore, & we put a piece of parcel tape over the drainage hole & punched some little holes in it for ventilation, & to stop the hemcore falling out.

 

I'll use the great tips on here to make the poo tray & doorway safe for mum & babies later on .